Tales of Berseria

Tales of Berseria - FAQ/Walkthrough

Current Version: Ver 1.06 - May 17, 2017

Introduction

Thank you for visiting my guide.

If you find yourself on this guide, then you're likely looking for help to complete a certain task or find a certain item. I spend hundreds of hours writing guides for fun, but my ultimate goal is to help people get through these games with ease. I love it when I receive emails from people saying they were able to complete a game because of my guide or simply have a question, so please feel free to contact me via the email in the Contact Information section of this guide.

My purpose for this guide is to help you complete Tales of Berseria with a 100% game experience via a step-by-step walkthrough. This means it'll lead you through the story while pointing out all Treasures, Events, and Sidequests while also providing boss strategies. I do my best to make these walkthroughs with as few spoilers as possible, so they have limited in-game event descriptions and are designed to guide you, not play the game for you.

If you want me to add something or notice a mistake, please email me.

Donation Info

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Gameplay

Controls

Control	Field Command
	Character Movement
	Camera Movement
	Menu Shortcuts / Character Switch
	Arte Attack
	Arte Attack
	Open Map / Arte Attack
	Arte Attack
	Camera Reset / Guard
	Current Objective / Enemy Information
	Use Bottle / Mystic Arte
	Break Soul Ability
	-
	Change Camera Distance / Battle Commands
	Pause Menu
	Open Menu

Basics

Tales of Berseria offers great in-game tutorials that covers most of the basics of gameplay, but the following will either offer additional insight into the gameplay features in Berseria or information not well covered within the game itself.

General Stores & Inns

Each town has a General Store and Inn, unless the town is abandoned or empty due to story events.

General Stores sell consumable items (gels and bottles), random weapons and equipment (within a rarity range), and ingredients for cooking recipes. By spending gald at any merchant, either for purchasing items or upgrading equipment, you can increase the Store Level, which will offer rewards and also increase the number of items available at the stores. While all stores sell the same consumables and ingredients, the weapons and equipment sold are based on the individual store, your progression in the story, and are randomly selected from set rarity range (6 = Flouric equipment / 18 = Adamantine equipment). To change the randomly selected weapons and equipment being sold within the set rarity range, simply fight three battles on any field and return to any shop for a new selection.

The following is a list of the amount of gald required for each Store Level and the reward obtained:

Inns will allow you to rest, at the expensive of gald to heal your party and remove any effects, such as those from a Dark Bottle.

Skits

Skits are optional conversations between your allies that can occur after progressing the story or by meeting a certain condition. When you unlock the ability to view a skit, the name of the skit and the icon of a person will appear in the bottom right of the screen. To watch the skit, simply press Triangle to trigger the scene.

Please see the Skits List for more information on unlocking each skit in the game.

Sub-Events

Sub-Events are additional dialogue events with NPCs that may or may not be part of a sidequest. These events are identified by a green exclamation point bubble over an NPCs head, instead of the normal chat bubbles, and often just add additional insight into the game's events. That being said, a few sub-events will unlock additional game content, such as the Class 4 Zones, and some must be viewed to complete the Sidequests for each character's backstory.

Katz Spirits & Katz Boxes

During the story events in Titania, after the Prologue, Seres mentions Katz Spirits in passing and later a katz will mention they can be used to unlock Katz Boxes throughout the world.

Note that Katz Spirits respawn each time you enter an area, so there's no need to make sure you get every single one, and there's one Katz Box in every town, field, and dungeon. Katz Boxes do NOT contain a fixed item, rather each (1st, 3rd, 5th, etc) box will grant a fashion item and every (2nd, 4th, 6th, etc) box will release a katz. This means that skipping a Katz Box is pointless, as the next box will reward you with the same item you'd have obtained from the previous one.

Treasure Chests

There are three types of treasure chests in the game:

• Bronze = Consumables, Materials, and Gald
• Silver = Basic Weapons and Equipment
• Gold = Advanced Equipment and Rings

Note that the first time you open a chest the item is fixed, but chests have a chance of being refilled upon returning to an area with a random item.

Herbs

Herbs are consumable items that can be used to permanently increase the stats of any of your characters. These can be found in field and dungeons and will randomly respawn when there are less then 50 available across all maps.

Cooking

Cooking recipes allows you to create meals that offer benefits in the next battle, provided you trigger a certain condition. Benefits can be anything from reviving a KO'd ally to provided additional defensive stats for a duration of the battle, while trigger conditions can be anything from an ally's HP dropping below a certain percent to 120 seconds of combat. In addition to the recipe's base benefits, each ally has additional benefits that can added when cooking a meal, based on their Cooking Level.

You can set allies to Auto-Cook a meal after each battle, provided you have the proper ingredients, to cut down on how often you need to open the Main Menu. Note that this is great for increasing your allies Cooking Level, provided you watch the number of remaining dishes you can cook in the bottom right of the field HUD.

Please see the Cooking Skills for more information on ally benefits.

Expeditions

Expeditions allow you to use your additional ship to scout the outer islands for rewards. Each voyage takes 30 minutes, no matter the distance, and each time you send the ship out it will encounter three battles. The outcome of the battles determines the rewards and experience you receive for that voyage. In addition to the rewards found, the ship may also find valuable treasures that grant exploration skills that will help with future voyages. In other words, Expeditions are a fun mini-game you want to constantly have running to earn rewards as you progress through the story.

Equipment Basics

Tales of Berseria covers the basics of equipment, including skills and enhancements, but the following offers some advanced information on those features, as well as the basics of equipment in easy to understand terms.

Master Skills

All equipment, from weapons and accessories to armor and shoes, comes with a fixed skill that can be permanently learned by your allies. In order to learn a skill on a piece of equipment, the character must be equipped with the item at the end of a battle for the battle grade to apply to the overall "cost" of learning a skill. Once mastered, the benefit from the skill will apply to your character even when the equipment isn't equipped and is doubled when the equipment is equipped.

For example: If you want to master the Attack +15 on Velvet's Unnamed Blade, she must have the blade equipped at the end of battle. The grade earned in that battle, let's say 38 grade, will be added to your current progress on the Unnamed Blade (38 out of 900). Once you've earned a total of 900 grade through combat, the skill will be mastered and the character will gain Attack +15 when the Unnamed Blade isn't equipped and Attack +30 when it is.

Random Skills

Random Skills are similar to Master Skills, but can't be learned and are randomly generated on a piece of equipment when you obtain it. Additionally, unlike Master Skills, a piece of equipment can have more than one random skill provided you've gained the potentites that unlock this.

Enhancements

After unlocking the ability to enhance gear through upgrading or dismantling, you'll be able to increase the base stats of your weapons and equipment by visiting any store. Note that upgrading your equipment requires certain number of fragments (based on rarity) and equipment type and gald for each upgrade. On the flip side, dismantling gear provides you with upgrade materials at no gald cost.

The following is a list of the materials and gald requirement for each upgrade:

The following is a list of the materials gained for dismantling equipment at each level:

In addition, you can also gain "fluid" type materials based on the random skills attached to each piece of equipment, the number of random skills for each type of fluid, and the rank of the random skill. For example: If you have 2 "Rank 1" random skills you will obtain 2 Balmy Fluid. If you have a "Rank 1" random skill and a "Rank 3" random skill, you'll obtain a Balmy Fluid and a Pungent Fluid.

Titles

Titles are a unique piece of "equipment" that you can equip to give additional effects to your characters. Each character has their own unique titles that they can earn by meeting certain conditions and each title can be ranked up by meeting addition conditions, usually with the same type of criteria. For example, if a title is earned by stunning 50 enemies, the next rank up for that title will also be for stunning enemies (500).

Battle Basics

The majority of Tales of Berseria's gameplay revolves around combat against field enemies and bosses throughout the entire story. The following will cover the basics of combat, focusing on changes between the previous Tales games.

Character Movement

In previous Tales games the player-controlled character was locked to a 2D plane of movement within a 3D environment, requiring holding an additional button would allow free-run to evade for a short period at the cost of CC. In Berseria, the 2D plane of movement has been removed in favor of constant free-run ability, which allows you to evade attacks easily and line-up up character's attacks with more efficiency. This means that you'll need to master moving in combat while rotating the camera to spot enemies that may attack from behind.

Health & KO

Every playable character has a set pool of Health Points (HP) that is slowly diminished in combat by damage from enemies. If a character is reduced to zero HP they will be KO'd and be unusable in battle until revived or until the end of combat, at which point all KO'd characters are restored to 1 HP. HP can be restores by eating consumable gels, in or out of battle, while healing artes can be used in battle to keep a healthy pool of HP for characters on the field.

Attacking & Artes

There are three types of attacks: Martial, Hidden, and Malak artes with all characters using 2 of the 3 available arte styles.

• Martial Artes: These attacks are melee attacks, with damage based on the character's Attack and the enemy's Defense.
• Hidden Artes: More powerful melee artes that consume more SG, with damage based on the character's Attack and Arte Attack and the enemy's Defense and Arte Defense.
• Malak Artes: Spells that can be offensive or defensive and require time to cast, with damage based on the character's Arte Attack and the enemy's Arte Defense.

Every character has their own unique set of artes, which you can program to the controller buttons via the arte tree. Non-controlled characters will use any artes turned On in their artes table, accessed via the Artes tab in the main menu or during combat. Using artes that chain well together to exploit an enemy's weakness, or hitting all weak points, will help you defeat enemies quickly with a power hits combo.

Guarding & Quicksteps

The most important part of combat is damage mitigation through guarding and quickstepping to avoid attacks. While not attacking, hold L1 to guard against attacks and take less damage or use the Left Analog to quickstep in any direction. Properly evaded attacks will result in a soul appearing on the field, which can be collected if the character is carrying less than 5 souls, and will also allow you to quickly get in counterattacks.

As you progress through the game you'll unlock charge abilities when you guard for an extended period of time:

• Sharpshooter's Ventite - Guard for 1 second to double the chance of inflicting a status ailment on the next attack
• Paladin's Ventite - Guard for 1.5 seconds to regain 30 SG
• Guardbreaker's Ventite - Guard for 2 seconds to increase the chance of inflicting a status ailment on the next attack, which can't be blocked

Soul Gauge & Break Souls

The Soul Gauge (SG) represents a character's attacking ability, with a set amount of the SG consumed for each arte performed in combat. At the beginning of combat you'll have access to 3 Souls, with each soul containing 30 SG energy, though additional souls can be obtained during combat, with a maximum of 5 souls being available at one time.

Soul management rules:

• Gain an additional soul when an enemy receives a status ailment
• Gain an additional soul when an enemy is defeated
• Gain an additional soul when a Mystic Arte is performed
• Lose a soul when a status ailment is received

In addition, souls are dropped on the field when you evade an enemy attack just before it hits by quickstepping or upon a character's death.

Unlike previous games, which used a similar system to determine the number of attacks available, Berseria allows a character to attack even when the SG bar is diminished. Attacking with empty SG results in attacks being blocked or counterattacked more frequently, meaning your attacks are less effective.

When the character gains 3 or more souls they can perform a Break Soul ability, which consumes one soul in order to ignore chain limits and heal HP and status ailments. Note that using a Break Soul will result in the enemy gaining an additional soul and each character has a different type of Break Soul ability.

Blast Gauge & Mystic Artes

The Blast Gauge (BG) is a feature from Tales of Zestiria, but rather than determining the use of armatization it allows the characters to unleash hidden abilities and perform Mystic Artes. At the start of battle each character regains a small amount of the BG based on the overall usage of their martial/hidden/malak artes, an incentive to use all artes regularly, and can earned in combat by performing Break Souls.

When the Blast Gauge is reaches 3, any character with a Mystic Arte can perform an ultimate attack by holding L2 during a combo. Note that the combo's attacks must not be blocked by the enemy and the use of a Mystic Arte will consume 3 BG.

Dire Foes

After obtaining the Daredevil's Ventite there is a chance of encountering Dire Foes after an initial battle, based on the amount of grade obtained and the number of consecutive battles on a single map. These powerful enemies always spawn after an initial fight and are accompanied by two invincible standard-type enemies, with future encounters with the same Dire Foe becoming harder each time you defeat it.

Why engage these enemies? They offer a large amount of grade that will quickly allow you Master gear and each has a trophy attached to it.

Code Red Hunts

After reaching a certain point in the game you'll be informed of special enemies that appear on different maps. Code Red Hunt enemies are one-time bounty hunts that can be defeated for key items and gald, as well as granting special actions like unlocking Chaos Mode or showing the number of un-opened chests on the map.

Video Walkthrough

Note that I will be doing a whole Video Playthrough of this, identical to the text here, which you can watch here:

• https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVBHCZXojrJfJc-wgi01U-VvJujgUxX1p

Walkthrough

After watching the opening, start a new game and browse through the Options to change anything you aren't happy with. I suggest changing the audio settings to TV only rather than TV and controller mic to preserve the controller's battery, as it is wholly unneeded.

Prologue

Aball

After the initial cutscene, turn around and speak with Laphicet twice and then check the house for any shining spots in the kitchen or the attic.

Shining locations are random gathering points that sometimes appear on the map. They often provide you with common items, such as ingredients or salvage, but they are worth keeping an eye out for as they sometimes offer rare items.

Exit the house for a quick tutorial on the use of the mini-map, area map, and current objective list and then examine the nearby gravestones. The gravestones offer insight into the relationship between Velvet and Arthur, as well as the condition of Celica during her death in the initial cutscene. You can now make your way north to the center of town to activate the skit Dinner Plans.

Head north and speak to the man with an exclamation point over his head for some insight into the events that occurred during the opening of the game and a strange disease known as "daemonblight". The child to the northeast asks about Laphicet's health, indicating that Laphicet has a chronic illness, and then check the southwest corner of town to find a chest with an Apple Gel. Make sure to grab the Resistance Ring from the chest next to the General Store, which you can equip to Velvet immediately, and then exit town to the northwest.

The Morgana Woods isn't your objective destination and you can't explore beyond the first area, but you can speak to the group of villagers near the tree for an event. Return to town and head east, speaking with the old woman for another event about Empyreans, and then exit to the east to reach the Tranquil Woods.

While not all event bubbles have crucial information, they always offer insight into the character's world.

Tranquil Woods

Follow the path north until you reach the split and then head south to encounter your first Prickleboar, activating the Battle Tutorial. The jest of the tutorial is that performing artes to attack enemies will cost a certain amount of points from a character's Soul Gauge (SG) and that in order to increase your SG, thereby increasing the maximum amount of attacks you can perform in a combo, you must inflict status ailments on enemies. Watch the skit The Prickleboars' Future after the first encounter and then head east for another encounter near a chest with an Apple Gel.

Please see Battle Basics for additional information on the Soul Gauge and using Artes.

Exit east and defeat the final group of Prickleboars to automatically trigger the skit Prickleboars Hunted! and then check the giant hole in the temple ruins for the skit The Shrine on the Cape.

Please not that some skits play automatically and their names do not appear in the bottom right of the screen. These skits will be marked with a * in the table of contents at the top of each section to avoid confusion over missing a skit trigger.

Backtrack through the woods until you trigger a scene, which forces you into a fight with 5 Prickleboars, and then open the battle menu and set Searing Edge as an arte to Velvet's arte tree. This will allow you to exploit the enemy's weakness, performing a "Power Hit", that will do additional damage vs. standard damage. After another cutscene, watch the skit After the Hunt... and then return to town.

Aball & Tranquil Woods

Head to the center of town for another cutscene to gain Apple Gel x3 and then speak with Niko and the dogs for additional dialogue. Return to Velvet's house for the skit At the Family Grave and then enter inside for another scene with Laphicet. After setting Laphi down in bed, examine the two books on the table for some more funny dialogue and then head over to the stove to light it for the skit Lahi's Request. You can now head up the ladder to grab the curry spice for a skit Velvet's Dream, speak with Laphicet for another skit After All, We're Family, and then return to the kitchen and start preparing the meal near the stove.

Return to town in the morning for another scene with the General Store owner and then speak with Niko and the two villagers in town before returning to the Tranquil Woods.

Head toward the cape until you trigger a scene and then watch the skits A Memory of Princessias and Appleboo before making your way to the cape. After another scene you'll be forced into a fight with a daemon, though it'll end rather quickly since you can't do any damage to the Blude Wolf. When you awake, exit Velvet's house and immediately run through town to return to the Tranquil Woods. You can now make your way to the cape one last time for another cutscene and then easily defeat the enemies to complete the Prologue.

Part 1: Journey to the Capital

Titania

Returning to the present, Seres enters the pit that's held Velvet prisoner for all this time and issues a challenge.

Boss: Seres (HP: 2200) - Unknown

Weakness: None
Resistance: Wind

This battle acts as a tutorial and isn't difficult, even on Hard, as Seres uses slow attacks that are easy to avoid or guard. It's best to perform a long combo of attacks against Seres until you run out of SG and then guard to block incoming damage while regaining your SG. Keep attacking and guarding, playing aggressively, and it's unlikely that Seres will get in more than a few attacks before you deplete your health.

Drops: Prodigy's Glacite

After the cutscene, exit through the only door and follow the linear path upstairs until you trigger the skit Signs of an Intruder and then open the nearby chest for the skit Selecting Equipment to obtain your equipment and a Rope. Make quick work of the abbey orderly that attacks to trigger another scene and then head northwest to the save point. A few steps to the southwest and you'll come across a floating ball of mana, triggering the skit Odd Souls which mentions collecting them. Don't worry too much about grabbing every single one you see, as they respawn whenever you reload or change zones, meaning you can farm them in large groups later in the game.

Head upstairs for another scene before heading south toward the objective marker and then defeat the two exorcists in your way to trigger another scene.

After the cutscene, head northeast to speak with the goblin and then check the last cell on the northwest branch to find a chest with Battle Boots. Exit the cell block for a funny scene and watch the skit A Powerful Witch? that follows and then enter the storage room to the south to collect some Sage. You can now enter the eastern cell block and head to the last cell on the northern branch for a chest containing a Life Bottle. Exit the cell block and head northeast to make your way upstairs and then open the nearby chest for a Void Ring.

Boss: Red-Eyed Swordsman (HP: 2843) - Unknown

Weakness: None
Resistance: None

The unknown swordsman fights similarly to Seres, with slow 1-2 strike combos and plenty of time in between to attack or guard. The addition of Seres to your party makes for an easy fight that will end when they swordsman reaches 50% health.

Drops: Sharpshooter's Ventite

After the fight, watch the skit The Daemon Swordsman before you continue south and then head through the exit to the northwest. Approach the objective marker for a scene and defeat the three guards and then climb the ladder up and open the chest with 320 Gald. At the top of the tower you'll trigger another scene that teleports you to the outer path of the prison, where you'll find a Verbena, so save and then return into the prison. You can now follow the linear path until you reach the front of the prison and trigger another scene.

Boss: Oscar (HP: 11501) - Person

Weakness: None
Resistance: Fire

Oscar is the first real opponent you'll have encountered so far, with fast attacks and decent combos that can tear through your HP quickly if unguarded. Focus on eliminating the two malakhim first, since they are fairly weak and will only distract you while beating on Oscar. Once you only have Oscar to deal with, use non-elemental attacks to chain your attacks together before backing off when your SG is low. Watch out for Oscar's Tiger's Fang attack, which will increase his Attack, and back off to give Seres time to heal you if your health is low.

Drops: Vampire's Glacite

Boss: Drake (HP: 5936) - Dragon

Weakness: Wind
Resistance: Fire

At the start of the fight you'll gain the ability to perform Break Souls, which grants the character a special ability at the cost of a soul. In Velvet's case, Break Souls allows her to theronize her arm and do massive damage with the daemon claw before performing a finisher based on the enemy category (Dragon).

While it is tempting to use Break Souls straight away, the loss of the soul will leave you with very little SG to perform standard attacks. Bait the Drake into attacking with his Frontal Breath and Kick attacks and quickstep to the side as the attack nearly hits you. If timed correctly a soul should appear on the field, which you can collect to gain another soul and then perform a Break Souls. If you're having issue with the timing, bait the Drake to attack and then strike his side and back as he recovers in the hopes of stunning him.

When the Drake gets low health it'll start to use Whirlwind and a Range Breath attack that are much deadlier. The Whirlwind attack is pretty deadly is you're caught in it, so try to avoid standing at his front and use any additional souls you have to finish him quickly.

Drops: None

Figahl Icecaps

When you awake you'll automatically be thrust into a fight with a Werewolf and Eagle, with Velvet as the only combatant... lazy people! The werewolf is weak to fire, so start a combo with Searing Edge to exploit the weakness and finish it off quickly and then focus on the eagle. Remember that you'll always begin a fight with 3 souls and that Break Souls will heal you slightly, so feel free to use it regularly in battle.

After the automatic skit Washed Ashore, watch the skits The Boy Malak's Healing Artes and The Witch's Vagaries and then open the chest nearby for 320 Gald. Make sure to save to avoid having to fight Oscar and the Drake again and then exit to the next field.

Figahl Icecaps is the first field map with standard encounter, which occur any time you come into contact with the enemies on the field. While enemies generally easy to avoid, doing so will result in a weak party that can make future encounters very difficult. Head north until the area open ups and check the cliff to the west for some Rosemary and then continue for a scene with Rokurou and Magilou. Make sure to turn around head south along the upper level for a chest with a Life Bottle and return north until you trigger the skit Prisoners' Tales and then continue for another scene to gain the Ten Gallon Hat.

A single Katz Box appears on each of the maps in the game, Field/Dungeon and Towns, and each one you open will cost a certain amount of Katz Spirits. Katz Boxes don't hold a specific reward item or katz and rewards are based on the order you in which you open them, with every other box granting a reward (1, 3, etc). This means that there's no point in skipping a katz box because it doesn't have an item, as the next one also won't.

Head north to encounter the mysterious malak again, who returns the Compass he stole before running off, and then head down the eastern path. Turn around when the path opens up to climb the vines and collect some Sage and then continue northeast to reach Hellawes.

Hellawes

After the automatic skit Through the Storehouse, check the warehouse for a Life Bottle and 480 Gald and then exit the building and search the southeast corner of the docks for a chest with a Fire Ring. In the middle of the docks area, eavesdrop on the children idolizing Artorius and the exorcists and then check the northern end of the docks for another Life Bottle.

Enter the center of town and pass behind the buildings to the north to find some Lavender and then head up the ladder. Follow the ledge and drop down behind one of the buildings, after passing over the archway, to find an Amber Garment near the water and then climb back up and continue along the ledges to a dead end with a Blood Blade. You can now drop to the ground near the dock entrance and head to the objective marker to trigger the skit Finding the Shipping Guild before speaking with the guild members.

Check the alcove to the left of the shipping guild to find a Katz Box with the Square Glasses and then head south and check the area to the right of the arch for a Verbena. Cross the street as you pass under the arch and head behind the inn for another chest with an Amber Fragment and then enter the tavern across from the inn to speak with a man about Lady Teresa.

Speak with Rokurou outside the Weapon Shop to trigger the skit Magilou Departs and then head south toward the yak for some funny dialogue. Make sure to enter the inn and rest for the skit Private Training with Rokurou to obtain the Jacketless Outfit (Rokurou), which is missable, and then listen to the three remaining event bubbles in the plaza before returning to the docks. Speak with the sailor in the northeast for additional information on flamestone and then enter the warehouse and head back to Figahl Icecaps.

Beardsley

Head toward Hellawes' main gate, which is no longer blocked off, and watch the skit Two Daemons in the Cold when it pops up. Search the small dead end in the northeast for a Life Bottle and then cross to the northwest and check the small batch of Princessia flowers for a flashback and the skit Broiling Hatred. You can now head south toward the objective marker to grab the Chamomile to the northeast of town entrance, near the frozen slide, and then enter the town of Beardsley.

After the cutscene and skit The Apple's Taste, watch the skit Abbey Inspector on Patrol and then head southwest for another event with Rokurou and a yak. Collect the nearby chest with 450 Gald and then head up the path for a Saffron, chest with Twin Charm, and a Katz Box. Head back down the path and enter the center of town to speak with the man kneeling in the dirt and then grab the Rosemary next to the General Store before heading toward the northern exit.

Follow the Cooking tutorial to obtain 5 Marbled Prickleboar Meat and 5 Nutmeg and the skit No More Taste and then watch the skit Swords and Spirits that follows. You can now exit the north side of town and search the area for a Saffron and then enter Hadlow Hollow.

Hadlow Hollow

Head northeast as you enter the hollow to find a chest at the dead end with an Apple Gel and then backtrack and head west into a large area with multiple enemies. Make sure to grab the chest with 500 Gald at the dead end to the west and then head northeast to get a short scene at the boulder. Break through the boulder to spot a Katz Box straight ahead, containing the Rose Corsage, and then exit to the north.

Follow the path until you reach the section of tar and then jump across the rocks to reach the other side. In the next large room, head east to a dead end with a Chamomile and then backtrack to the previous room and exit through the southwest. Wade through the many enemies and collect the Shadow Daggers from the dead end and then backtrack to the previous area and head northwest, pushing the boulder into the tar to create a path to the northwest exit for the skit That's Not How the Saying Goes.

In the northeast section of the next area you'll probably notice a large bat with a blade cloud surrounding it. Although not currently introduced, these one-time enemies are powerful enemies that you can hunt for bounties and rewards - just make sure to use the Quick Save feature before engaging them.

Boss: Bat Baron (HP: 12665) - Winged, Beast, Armored

Weakness: None
Resistance: Neutral

At the start of the encounter, focus on defeating the minor bats to increase your SG in order to make the remainder of the fight much easier. Since the Bat Baron is resistant to non-elemental attacks, you'll need to focus on his category weaknesses in order to do any actual damage. Evade the sonic attacks or defeat any bats that are called in for reinforcements to restore your SG and keep your health up.

Velvet's Swallow Dance is great for striking the winged category and Searing Edge to strike the beast category, followed up with a Blast Soul combo.

Drops: Acrobat's Ventite

Collect the Life Bottle in the northeast corner before making your way south and then continue to trigger a skit To Each Their Own Blade. Continue north along the western section of the map and check the eastern wall for a Sage and then continue into the next area. Follow the linear path north until you trigger the skit Daemon's Palate and head southwest to a dead end with 530 Gald and then exit to the north.

Boss: Daemon Dyle (HP: 13328) - Demihuman

Weakness: Fire, Earth
Resistance: Wind

This battle acts as a tutorial for weak point combos, forcing you to create a combo specifically to attack Dyle's weaknesses. This means that you'll have a custom combo specifically set up for Dyle on Velvet's arte tree, provided you create one to complete the tutorial, that you can simply spam in combat. Make sure to trigger Break Souls as you gain additional souls, but try and keep at least three souls to have enough SG to perform the weak point combo.

Drops: Denore Bottle

After obtaining Dyle's Tail, speak with Dyle for a conversation and search the area for a Lavender and then return to the previous area and warp to the entrance of Hadlow Hollow.

Hellawes (2)

Return to Hellawes and speak with the woman near the church for some additional information about the volcano up north and then speak with the shipping guild. After the cutscene, follow the tutorial on equipment Enhancements to upgrade and then dismantle Blood Blade and then take a moment to dismantle any duplicate gear in your inventory. You can now exit to Figahl Icecaps for the skit Sailing Isn't Easy and then head south toward your ship to trigger the skit Can Daemons Become Human Again before speaking with the shipping guild members.

After the cutscene, make your way back toward Hellawes for a scene and the skit Hellawes on Guard and then head to Hadlow Hollow. Make sure to watch the skit A Villain's Approach and Maintaining Blades at the Hollow's entrance and then head northeast and warp to the Hollow's depths. Head north to speak with Dyle for cutscene and the skit Rokurou's Debt and then backtrack to the Hollow's entrance for another conversation with Dyle. Outside, watch the skit That Reminds Me... before heading to Hellawes' main gate and defeat the two abbey orderlies.

Enter Hellawes and make your way to the objective marker for a scene and then engage in combat with the waves of orderlies. The orderlies are minor foes, meaning they are easy to stun and their health is rather low, and you should find yourself with plenty of extra souls to burn to quickly complete the fight.

Boss: Teresa (HP: 6664) - Person

Weakness: None
Resistance: Water

Teresa's attacks don't do much damage, but each has a form of buff to herself or a debuff to your characters that adds a dynamic to the fight. Her Full Moon attack, which lowers your character's Arte Defense, makes the two tethered malak a serious nuisance in the fight and her remaining attacks include Defense Up and Attack Up buffs. Focus your attacks on the malakhim, using non-elemental attacks to strike their weakness, and try to interrupt their spells to avoid them damaging the AI controlled character.

With the two malakhim defeated, focus on exploiting Teresa's water weakness with artes like Twin Whip and go all out on her with Break Souls if you find yourself in excess. If you're lucky you might be able to back her into a corner and wail on her until she is defeated, but watch out for her Northern Lights attack when she reached low health.

Drops: Paladin's Ventite

West Laban Tunnel

After the cutscene and skit Taking the Boy, speak with Rokurou and Dyle near the helm and Magilou at the stern of the ship and then talk to Number Two for another scene.

Boss: Pirate Malak (HP: 11247) - Unknown

Weakness: None
Resistance: Water

This three vs. one fight is fairly easy, since the malak's attacks aren't extremely strong and Number Two has the ability to heal the minor wounds you receive. Keep up the damage and block while you recover SG to minimize damage and the fight will end when the enemy reaches half health.

Drops: Daredevil's Ventite, Pirate's Eyepatch

As the tutorial mentions, you can now run into Dire Foes by fighting in consecutive battles within a given area while achieving high grade. These enemies are extremely difficult at your current level and should be avoided until you have at least 4 party members.

After the cutscene, speak with the pirate Benwick and Magilou for the skit Shared Interests and then speak with Dyle about the Van Aifread pirates. Once you're done speaking with everyone, and purchased any supplies you need from the pirates, climb the vines and collect the Earth Ring nearby and then enter the tunnels. Head north at the split, since the eastern area is empty except for some Katz Spirits, and make your way to the objective marker for a scene and the skit Planning the Assault.

Head north to the next area and check the dead end to the north for a chest with Amber Paper and then head east toward the wall of vines. After receiving the Kindling, examine the vines twice to burn them out of the way and then exit to the northwest. Collect the Rosemary near the gap, which you won't be able to cross until much later in the game, and then return to the previous area and exit to the northeast. You can now follow the path until you trigger a scene and then watch the skit The Way Malakhim Used to Be that follows.

Head northeast to a dead end with a Life Bottle and then backtrack and exit to the northwest to find a Katz Box. Follow the path toward the exclamation point to speak with the White Turtlez for the skit White Turtlez Appears and then purchase any supplies you need. Enter the next area for the skit White Turtlez Vs Velvet, followed by the skit What's in a Name?, and then exit to the east and search the room for a chest with 640 Gald. Backtrack to the previous area and follow the path north until you reach a split and then burn the vines to the north to collect the Mercury Satchel. You can now make your way toward the exit for the skit The Reaper's Coin and then continue to Burnack Plateau.